Labour: The Summer That Changed Everything, BBC 2, Monday at 9pm
There’s a lot of imagined certainty in politics at the moment.
Trump is a moron, Brexit is a disaster and the summer election changed everything for Labour.
Trump is a moron, there’s no denying that.
Brexit is looking like it will have serious consequences for Ireland, particularly if the worrying decline in the relationship between Dublin and London continues, but things might look altogether differently in a couple of years. The Euro is not out of the woods yet and fiscal and governmental issues may yet stalk Europe after the glee of seeing Britain suffer dissipates.
The June election may have changed everything for Theresa May but it was not the summer that changed everything for Labour.
Nonetheless, David Modell’s film found that narrative impossible to avoid.
It seems incredible that after seeing Jeremy Corbyn, Leave and Trump all turn the experts’ and pollsters’ predictions on their heads, that some people believe that politics is predictable again and Corbyn is on a smooth road for Downing Street.
To be fair, Modell concentrated more on the shock of the Labour right than the ‘victory’ of the Corbynistas.
He followed four Labour MPs in the run up to the snap June election. Like most of their colleagues they believed Corbyn was a disaster and were torn between wanting to retain their own seats but hoping Labour lost enough so that Corbyn would be finished.
Lucy Powell and Ruth Cadbury featured, but most of our time was spent with Stephen Kinnock (son of former leader Neil and New Labour royalty) and front bencher Sarah Champion.
With the skill of Louis Theroux, Modell managed to get Champion to confide her true feelings about the dear leader, Jeremy “the deity.”
The best bit, though, was seeing the shock on the faces of the candidates as they watched the 10pm exit poll in the pub, constituency office and at home.
The sense of confusion was palpable. The Tories had a terrible campaign, but they heard for themselves on the doors that Corbyn wasn’t rated.
“Your leader is the worst in the world, have you got no better than him?” one constituent had asked Cadbury.
Kinnock was the most perplexed of all. He literally didn’t know what to say and stood mute as his father jotted down the numbers and figured out very quickly that the DUP would hold the balance of power.
Modell said Kinnock had leadership ambitions, but we found out quickly he didn’t have the wit for it.
Despite the outcome being unclear, Kinnock agreed to give interviews (and possibly hostages to fortune) to a series of broadcasters, until he was asked by his wife, a former prime minister of Denmark: “Why are you doing this?”
His answer: “I don’t know”
Corbyn, Trump and Brexit left a lot of people confused.
***
Martin Lewis Money Show, ITV, Tuesday at 8pm
Martin Lewis has been a brilliant success as a financial adviser to the ordinary man and woman in the street, but he makes a terrible television show.
This first episode of new series was like a game show from the 1970s - countdown clocks, over excited presenters, confetti falling from the sky and flashing lights last seen on Top of the Pops.
Lewis gave machine gun advice on banks, credit cards, holidays, subscription TV and Black Friday sales.
Perhaps the speed and fake excitement is because he doesn’t trust his audience to maintain attention, but if you’re really interested in being financially savvy his website is a much better investment of your time.
